Hospitals are inaccessible to residents of West Kabul

14/12/2017

KABUL (SW): Under the former President Hamid Karzai, Pakistan agreed to build a hospital in the Mahtab Qala district 6 in Gulayee area in Kabul. The announcement for the opening of “Mohammad Ali Jinah hospital”, spread all over and the residents of the district 6, and district 13, and folks in the neighboring areas were hopeful but still, there is no news of the opening of the hospital.

I went to district 6 to collect more news. I met Mohammad Aizi, one of the residents of Dasht-e Barchi. In response to my question that why the construction of this hospital has been delayed, Azizi told me that they have been waiting for this hospital to be built for years, but obviously, the construction of this hospital has been delayed due to policies of Islambad as a result of the diplomatic tention between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and also due to ill-hearted intentions of the authorities at the Ministry of Public Health towards certain ethnicities in the country. He added that Pakistan will not support projects for the people of Afghanistan unless a Pakistan-backed regime such as Taliban comes to power in Afghanistan.

Complaining about the role of government, Azizi said that the ministry of health is also less interested in the establishment of a hospital in the district 6 and district 13, and the provision of health services in these areas. He added that “their ethnic biased point of view dominates the conscience of the authorities at the ministry of public health”, otherwise, there is no other reason to delay the construction of this hospital.

According to Mohammad Azizi, the population of these two districts of Kabul city is about 1.5 million people, meanwhile, there are no hospitals in these two areas except private clinics. He said the existence of a government hospital in these areas is much needed.

He further added that it has happened many times that patients in these areas have died as a result of traffic congestion on their way to the hospital. He called on the authorities to begin work on the construction of Mohammad Ali Jinah Hospital or other hospitals as soon as possible.

I said goodbye to Azizi and went to meet with Jalil Jalili, one of the residents of district 13 of Kabul. Mr. Jalili said that since the hospital is being built with the financial support of Pakistan, Kabul-Islamabad policies and relations will certainly have its effect on the construction of such projects. He regarded the lack of attention of the Ministry of Public Health to this issue as another cause of delay in the construction of a hospital in this region.

Lastly, I had another discussion with Elias who lives in the district 6 in Kabul. Elias said that the construction of Mohammad Ali Jinah hospital was one of the dozens of the empty promises of the government which will never get a practical shape. He added, considering the huge population of these two districts, the existence of a hospital in these areas is required and much needed.

It was apparent that how much a hospital is needed in the west of Kabul; this was to be confirmed with the facts provided by the Ministry of Public Health, hence, I went to meet Ismail Kawosi, spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Health. According to Mr. Kawosi, 95 percent of the construction work of this hospital has been completed, and soon the residents of west Kabul will see the hospital functioning. He didn’t want to talk about the politics involved in the construction of this hospital but insisted that the Ministry of Public Health is aware of the problems of the residents of district 6 and district 13 and will strive to solve their problems soon.

With multiple efforts, I did not succeed to get the views of the Pakistan Embassy officials to include in this report. 

Millions of dollars have been spent on rehabilitation and construction of infrastructure projects over the past several years, but still, it appears that the country’s inhabitants are facing serious problems and issues which could bring disappointments to people if this situation continues.

ENDS

 

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